The shoes that came with my BX2816 are mounted on the reward ward side of the blower, and I had to replace them on a friend's identical snowblower after 2 seasons of blowing snow. The cutting edge at the rear of the blower was also severely worn. The snowblower that I previously had (BX2750) on my BX22 seemed to be a lot better, and I only had to replace the cutting edge and rear shoes on that after about 8 seasons of blowing snow. I can see that Kubota made some changes to the BX2816 such as moving the shoes from the rear of the blower to the rear side. I am not certain if they are for the better or worse. What is your experience with these snowblowers and are there better shoes available? Does anyone have any experience with the BX2817 hard plastic shoes and cutting edge? My goal is not to be having to replace parts every other year.